Anke the Woodman
by PoorPineapple
Summary: Anke is a Woodman from Northern Mirkwood sent on a scouting trip to obtain information the southern areas of the forest. Unimpressive in her skills as a scout and a fighter, this is a tale of how she managed to make herself useful in the Battle of Five Armies.
1. Chapter 1

For every curse word that had been invented, Anke had spoken most of them. Some were directed at her luck, her own stupidity, and at the number of goblins that she had stumbled upon. Brambles and thorns managed to find their way between the cracks of her leather boots and greaves. Not that they were very thick to begin with, but the stabbing, scratching, and rubbing of the stickers and other sharp objects were digging into her skin. The dribbles of blood were causing the cloth and armor to rub against her legs adding painful chaffing to the stabbing pain she felt in her legs. Normally, she wouldn't have a problem losing goblins or orcs in the forest, she was a full blooded woodman after all, but this land was unfamiliar to her more northern senses.

She was wheezing a bit, her lungs wanted to collapse on themselves. She had considered herself rather fit, but she didn't expect herself to be running miles at a time at full force. She stepped to the side to avoid another patch of brambles onto to have a spear whistle past her head. From behind her the hoard of goblins, well it was more between six to eight of them, whopped and hollered. Anke changed directions again, slipping a bit on some wet leaves. She would have went down if her arms hadn't flailed out, grabbing onto a nearby branch. Well that was until the branch snapped and she went sliding down a small gully.

She landed heavily in the water and rocks below, a mere trickle of water, but enough to soak through her clothing and to cover her with a dense, stick mud. She stumbled to her feet, briefly scrabbling at the wall of the other side of the gully. Trapped, she bit down on her gloved hand to keep from screaming. Before panic could set in, she turned and drew her bow, sighting an arrow on one of the faster goblins. The arrow sunk into the goblin's chest, it let out a gurgled scream before tipping forward into the gully where it laid still.

For a moment this made the goblins hesitant to rush forward, they were unsure of her location, and due to the slight overhang of the bank, she was able to see them before they could see her. Her legs shook slightly as she waited; it was all that she could do. From behind the bank there was laughter and then a small volley of rocks, arrows, spears, and clods of dirt. Anke had nowhere to take shelter and was hit full force. Several rocks slammed into her, one knocked against her skull causing her vision to be over taken by stars as she staggered backwards, slumping against the side of the gully.

Luckily, the arrows were not as well aimed, one pierced her leg, another one her side. She screamed in pain as they impacted the shearing heat of pain almost too much for her. But, there had been a reason she had been chosen to scout the southern parts of Mirkwood. It wasn't because she was not particularly fast, nor a fighter, it was due to her endurance. Anke was known for being able to travel longer distances and remain hearty and energetic the entire time. She had been chosen because despite pain she was still able to function at some level.

Tears rolled down her cheek, she bit down hard on her lip to help her relieve the pain in her head, side, and leg. She drew another arrow, striking a goblin who was getting to bold to the edge. Her breathing was ragged, even with her endurance she was almost at her limit. The goblins giggled and chattered, they were probably preparing another volley of rocks and weapons now that they knew exactly where she was at. Anke sobbed silently, drawing another arrow, preparing for her last stand.

Her eyes widened, a roar shook the air, and two goblins went flying over the gully, another one, well half of another one toppled down landing in the water with a splash. For a moment she wondered if she should stay down in the gully and hide from whatever was up there tearing apart goblins. Either way she was vulnerable, but she might have a chance to run if she was on even ground. Biting down on her glove again, she snapped the shaft of the arrows. Digging her heels into the side of the bank and latching onto tree roots she dragged herself up and out of the gully and on to dryer, but not safer land.

It was difficult getting to her feet, her head swam, and blood trickled from her body from her wounds. She staggered over to a nearby tree; she clung to it as she lifted her head to look over on the other side of the gully. Her vision blurred slightly, she rubbed her eyes furiously with her free hand, and she couldn't believe what she saw. Among the chaos of the screaming goblins, well what was causing the chaos, was a giant creature. Its fur was dark, pitch black; its teeth gleamed with the blood of the goblins as it tore through another one of them. Its body rippled with muscle as it swung out with a massive clawed paw knocking another goblin into the ground.

Anke hung against the branch staring at the creature, it was a bear, a massive bear, but she could not recall ever seeing a bear so savage and huge. Perhaps, she had been hit harder on the head and she was going mad, seeing creatures much larger than they really were. The beast paused slightly, it looked directly at Anke causing her to freeze, no, she was sure that this was not her imagination. Keeping an eye on the beast she slowly backed up into the forest. When she felt she had enough distance between the bear and herself, she began to make her way through the forest. She wanted to find somewhere safe to lay low, maybe to find some herbs for her injuries; she had lost most of her supplies in the chase. Every breath became more and more labored as she stumbled across rocks, shrubs, and under growth. She closed her eyes just for a few seconds to clear her vision.

When she opened them again she found herself home again. She let out a laugh, clapping her hands in excitement. She was dressed in fine clothing, before her was a feast of venison, winter vegetables, and desserts. On both of her sides her two older brothers were sitting, across from her was her grandfather, and beside him were two older people she didn't recognize. She laughed and tried to understand the conversations around her, though much of it was greatly muffled. The lighting of the room would switch from being unbearably bright, to slightly too dark. Anke turned her head to say something to her brother, only to see that half of his face was eaten away. She opened her mouth to scream, everyone, everyone around her was dead. She remembered now, her brothers had died during an orc attack, her grandfather during a rock slide. Dead, all of them, which meant, was she…

Anke's foot caught on a rock, her eyes snapped open as she went head over feet down a small incline. She let out a groan as she slid to a halt among the leaves and twigs. For a very long time she stared up at the branches of the trees. Slowly the stars began to twinkle from between the broad trees. This fascinated her, and it was a long time before she realized how cold she was getting. Perhaps she was dying; at least it was in a beautiful spot. Sometime later she became aware of a crashing noise nearby. She lifted her head as it drew nearer, she let out a small cry as the beast came over the hill, sniffing here and there at the trail of blood she had left.

She tried to get to her feet, only for her legs to give out on her. With having no choice she began to crawl, her mind thick as she tried to recall some words of wisdom to help her. Bears, bears, what didn't bears like? Arrows to the face was one, but at some point she had lost the quiver full of arrows on her back to the forest. The bear was coming closer, Anke flipped over to face the beast, her back hitting the hard, rough bark of s tree, which she used to press against to help her to her feet.

The beast stopped a few feet away from her and stared at her. Anke let out a small whimper, the only weapon she had to draw was an empty bow. The bear lifted itself onto its hind feet, towering over Anke; it then let out a roar that seemed to shake her down to her very soul. She clung to the tree the best she could, turning her head away from the creature. Then, she did the only thing she could think of as she beast settled down to four legs again. She stood up as straight as she could, lifting the bow high above her head.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed at the beast waving her hands and bow in the air trying to appear larger than she was. From somewhere deep in her addled mind she could only remember that bears hated loud noises, and to always appear larger than the animal attacking her. Which was laughable, even as she screamed again, there was no beast larger than the bear in front of her. She continued to scream and wave her hands until she was hoarse and her arms were too heavy to wave.

The bear in front of her stared at her for a very long time, so long that Anke was sure that her legs weren't going to hold her up much longer. Then the beast let out an odd coughing sound, which she might have thought was laughter, maybe it was calling for even more large bears.

"Well come on then!" she croaked at it feebly swinging her bow, "If you're going to kill me, then do it!" she challenged to creature which made it cough even more. The bear took another step forward, Anke flailed her bow again, only for her to lose her grip on it and it went flying off into the forest. Had she not been about to be killed and eaten by the giant bear she might have found this funny. Instead, she side stepped to try to put some distance between her and the beast, only to stumble over her own feet and fall face first into the ground. Finally, her whole body seemed to relax as she began to drift into unconsciousness. Before she passed out completely, she had one more thought.

"Playing dead can convince a bear to leave you alone," her mind went blank for a moment before she thought, "Shut up brain," and then she slipped into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

There were many types of bears. In the deep woods of the Mirkwood forest there were black bears, mostly docile creatures. The only time they seemed truly hostile was in extreme conditions of hunger or when their cubs were nearby. To the west were large brown bears, twice the size of the little black bear. They hailed from tall mountains and held tempers that even warriors feared. They were very territorial, aggressive, and had been known to decimate entire hunting parties. To the very far north there were tales of snow colored bears that would surface from the ice pulling people in or that these bears would burrow themselves underneath the snow and wait for seals and sometimes even men or dwarves to pass to strike. All three types of bears were known for having larger, razor like claws.

Anke knew quite a lot about bears; her mother was the aspect of the bear. Her mother, Kepu, was the Wuitan of the village, a shaman that guided and taught the people. In her youth Kepu had been a fierce warrior, with an axe as heavy as any man. She fought against spiders, orcs, and trolls protecting those who were weaker than herself. When Anke was younger she would listen to such stories, but also, she would beg for stories about bears.

What a disappointment Anke must have been, after generations and generations of her family being of the aspect of the bear, she was the aspect of the oak. Where those who were under the bear were warriors, who were known for their courage and fierceness, Anke was none of these things. Like a true oak she preferred to take things slowly. She would take long walks through the forest, studying every leaf and flower. Though she knew many names for the plants and animals of Mirkwood, she never had the sense of how to use them for healing or poisons. Instead she just seemed to drift around enjoying their beauty.

Where her mother had taken up the axe to fight, Anke had taken up the bow and learned to shoot apples out of trees. Her mother could recite healing remedies by heart, Anke preferred to pick pretty flowers, dry them, and hang them around her room. Her mother taught the young men and women of the village how to fight; Anke would tell old trails with shadow puppets to the children of the village. Granted, Anke's mother never stated that she was disappointed in her less than talented daughter. The fact that when Anke had volunteered to scout the more southern regions of Mirkwood, Kepu had for once spoke proudly of her daughter. But despite her more wandering nature, Anke recalled every story she had been told by bears.

This was what she dreamed of. At first her dreams were of dancing black bear cubs. Each one circled around her on their hind legs. One of them held an umbrella, another held a cake, she saw the shine of a weapon, and then of a shield, she followed their circling until she felt dizzy. When her eyes refocused each cub was a full grown bear, but they were not black bears. Their ebony fur was bright red, wafting slightly from their bodies. The bears surrounded her, the fur on their back slowly turning into licking flames that jumped onto Anke's skin, causing it to crackle and bubble. Anke screamed as her skin was lit on fire, she fell to the ground trying to put herself out only to have a large, flaming brown bear hold her down by the shoulders.

The brown bear then began to waver, its fur turning translucent as it slowly began to drip cool liquid onto her fiery skin. Only to have the water fill her mouth and nose, gurgling and gasping for breath she struggled against the weight of the bear. Finally, it melted completely, Anke found herself on her feet again, and she began to run. At first she was chased by a bear of fire that tore chunks out of her right thigh, then she would be running from a white bear whose breath would freeze her and she would feel like she was running through sap. This went on; she wept silent tears as she ran. Several times she found herself back in the long house of her tribe, sometimes it felt like it was something from her past, other times she felt as though she was peering in on something that was currently happening. Finally, everything faded to darkness; instead of pain she felt an odd tingling feeling all over her body. Then she slept, she fell away into nothingness to rest.

There was a loud buzzing in her ear. Well more than one source of buzzing that would slowly drift over her ear, float away then come back. She lifted her hand to shoo away whatever insect was buzzing about, only for her hand to hit something the size of a green walnut. It wasn't hard like a walnut either, it was soft and fuzzy. Anke squeezed her eyes shut as she became aware of sunlight filtering through her eyelids. She opened one drowsy eye, and then lifted her head. She was lying on her stomach in a bed; well it wasn't exactly a fancy bed, more of a sheet covering a hay pile, in a large hall.

The hall was longer than it was wide, with a high ceiling. In the middle of the room was a grand fire pit, which was lit, with wisps of smoke rising through a hole in the ceiling. She rubbed the side of her mouth as she sat up, swiping away pieces of straw that were stuck to her cheek with drool. The straw fluttered down on top of a giant bee that had been making its way across the blanket. It gave an insulted buzz with its wings before taking off and flying through a nearby open window.

Anke slowly pushed herself to her feet, which promptly, if she had not grabbed onto a nearby beam, would have fallen over. The leg that had been hit with the goblin arrow was almost numb; from time to time she would get a sense of tingling and even a shooting pain. She lifted the overly large shirt she was wear, which wasn't hers, her entire thigh was covered in a cream colored cloth. There was a faint scent of honey and other herbs coming from the bandage. She checked on her torso where the other arrow had been and found a similar bandage.

She wiggled her toes on the leg that was injured and frowned, this was going to interfere with her scouting out Mirkwood, at least until she healed. She briefly pondered how long it would take her to get to the nearest settlement to send word. Her stomach let out a long gurgle, and she leaned against the beam as a wave of weakness passed through her. She had always been a hearty eater and she didn't like to miss a meal, she wondered how many meals she had missed to feel so drained?

Lo and behold, there was a nearby table and on the far corner there were several bowls and a plateful of bread. This put a slight spring in Anke's step, which is until she actually tried to step again, her numb leg making the journey much more difficult than she was used to. She made her way to the table, clinging to beams, chairs, and then the table itself before she half-dragged herself to the food. She accidentally drooled a little as she picked up one of the dark brown loaves and broke it in two. The aroma of heavy grains wafted up into her nose. Fresh bread, this was something of a rarity for her, her own people did not have the land to plant grains to turn into flour. Her tribe instead gathered acorns and turned it into a type of flour, yet it was not like the slightly stale bread that travelers through the forest or traders would sell to her people.

She bit into the bread, the crunch crust causing her dry lips to stretch and break open, but she didn't care. She chewed a giant mouthful, then another and another; she had gone through almost a whole loaf before remembering that there were other bowls on the table. Still savoring the nutty flavor if the bread, she found a pitcher of milk and drank a cup full in one breath. One bowl was filled with soft looking clotted cream; the other golden honey, a plate filled with fragrant cheese dotted with herbs, and in the middle of it was a bowl filled with pale yellow butter. All of these things were rare to Anke; cows were hard to keep in the middle of the forest.

Gleefully, she finally took a seat at the table. The table was much lower than she expected, whoever lived in this home must have been on the short side. She piled the clotted cream and then the honey on a new piece of bread. She continued until she felt like she would burst, but she felt much stronger. It was funny how a good meal could always perk her up. Licking her fingers and her lips, she slowly stood up. She found walking still difficult, her leg still didn't respond as well and she found every few steps she would stumble over it. She managed to get around the hall once before she stopped in front of a very large door. It was locked from the inside, which was strange, from her limping about Anke knew she was the only one in the hall.

So was the door trying to keep her inside, or trying to keep something from coming in. She felt a chill run up her spine as she realized she didn't know who had rescued her from the bear, how long she had been asleep, and also, whose shirt was she wearing? It was all very eerie and she could say with this revelation that she wasn't very comfortable waiting for whoever lived in this hall to return. She pursed her lips in thought. But then again, whoever it was had nursed her back to health. In any case she was in any state to be able to run away, not yet anyway. The best she could do was to explore her surroundings and if need be, create an escape route.

Beside the door, leaning against the frame was a walking stick. Anke couldn't help wonder if it has been set there on purpose? Picking up the stick she found it was made from a fine, heavy wood. She rubbed her thumb over the well carved pale swirls and lines on the stick. She brought it to her nose and she took a deep breath. Ah, it smelt of home, not where her tribe lived, but of the forest, of tall trees and the smell of leaves. It was the wood of an ash tree, one of her favorite trees. If anything from the training from her mother, Anke knew trees very well, and was very fond of them. The head of the walking stick was that of a bear, she looked closely at it, noting how fine the fur on the bear had been carved and even the dark dye that had been painted on for the eyes. Whoever had carved this stick had taken a lot of time to get such tiny details. She wasn't a master at wood carving, but Anke was good enough to know when someone had skill.

On the other side of the door was a smaller table, most likely used to place weapons on, and boots underneath by whoever lived in the hall. The middle of the table was a bowl filled with shining yellow and red apples. Anke took one of each before she pushed the lock on the door up and opening the door. When she walked outside she was temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight. As her vision cleared she heard the drone of more buzzing. Ah, there must be more giant honey bees. She blinked her eyes several times; she was greeted with the sight of a large green farm yard. While it was mostly green grass, there were several paths of hard, packed dirt that had been worn down by the many cows and ponies that wandered in and out of the fenced area around the yard. To one side of the yard were several huge bee hives where the oversized bees crept in and flew out.

Anke began to smile as she limped along on one of the dirt trails; the smooth ground was warm against her bare feet. Occasionally one of the bees would fly directly in front of her, hover and stare at her, before flying off and out of sight. She felt greatly cheered by the many animals, the bees, the nice yard, and the warm sunshine. Hope, which was the feeling that replaced the chill of apprehension she had felt inside of the wall. Whoever had such a grand yard wouldn't be all that bad, right? She looked down as she felt something cold on her arm; she looked down to see a large wolfhound with shaggy gray fur staring up at her. It looked almost as if it was smiling as it wagged its tail.

"Well aren't you a happy looking fellow," Anke commented, getting a hand free by shoving the apples under her armpit. As she reached down to pet the creature, he sloppily licked her hand before letting out a bark, which was returned by several more hounds that were heard from behind the hall. The hound then bounded off, Anke watched him, holding back laughter. She had an odd feeling that the hound would be insulted if she laughed at him.

She made her way to the edge of the yard to look out over the surrounding area. It was mostly fields as far as she could see, but just green specks in the distance seemed to be the beginning of the forest. Closer still seemed to be a field filled with wildflowers, which must have been where the bees were flying off to. Taking a quick estimate of the distance from the hall to the very edges of the forest, whoever had rescued her must have walked and very long way with her.

Anke sat down on a nearby rock to rest for a moment. By now her leg was throbbing, she nibbled on one of her apples to try and distract herself from the pain. This would take a long time to fully heal, that distressed her a little. She wasn't given an exact date to return to her tribe, but she had planned to return before winter. If her leg did not completely heal by then, she might be stuck in this place until late spring. There was also the uncomfortableness of having to rely on a complete stranger for her well-being. She had never been the type to openly welcome strangers with ease and confidence, and now she had been dropped into someone's lap by fate, and she did not like it, she very much liked have control over who she was forced to socialize with.

In the time that had taken for Anke to reflect her unhappiness with her situation, three ponies had slowly made their way to stand around her. She watched them for a moment, still nibbling on her apple, she then smiled, and all of the ponies were watching her with one eye. Though it would have been hard to miss, each pony was casually grazing on the grass, but every so often one of their eyes would glance at her. She tucked her legs up as the ponies circled closer. She didn't know much about horses, but they didn't act threatening, perhaps, ah that was right, she bet that they were after the apples.

She pulled out the apple she had been holding under her arm, she held it tightly as she reached out for one of the ponies to take it. One of the ponies lifted its head and slowly moved forward, its nostrils flaring as it took in the scent of the apple. Anke leaned forward a little, eager for the pony to take the apple, closer and closer the pony moved towards her.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO LOSE A FINGER?" a voice boomed from behind Anke causing the ponies to snort and trot off. Anke was so surprised she almost tumbled off of the rock; her eyes were wide as she turned her head to see who had spoken. She actually did tumble off of the rock as she craned her head upward at the man who stood behind her.

He was tall, taller than anyone that Anke had ever seen, she estimate that she would only be as tall as his lower ribs. Despite his towering height all she could focus on was on his face. The edges of his face, his chin and forehead were covered in wild dark hair. His eyebrows were comb in such a way it gave him a permanent semi-surprised look. There were deep lines around his eyes and mouth. But his eyes had an expression of anger and fierceness, and they were a dark color, she would for a long claim they were black, but in truth they were a very dark gray color.

"I-uh-I," Anke began to stutter as the man stomped around until he was standing in front her. Menacing, that was all she could think as she stared at him as she tried to form some sort of words. The man bent down picking up the apple she had dropped. He then grabbed her hand, a little too roughly and forced her fingers flat and set the apple on her even palm.

"If you leave your fingers up, they'll try and eat them," the man said gruffly before letting out a clicking noise which caused the ponies to trot back to Anke. One of the ponies playfully tried to butt against the man's chest. "Oomph, no not me, she's got the apple," he pointed at Anke. Strangely enough the pony acted as though it understood the man and walked up to her.

Once again its nostrils flared, but this time it moved its mouth over the apple, its lip then nuzzled the fruit a few times before its large white teeth took a bite from the apple, leaving half along with a trail of green spit in her hand. Anke sat perfectly still watching the pony with fascination. The pony shook its neck and let out a low nicker before going back for the second half. This time the pony's lips brushed against Anke's hand, they were soft but the whiskers on the pony's chin cause her to chuckle a little as they tickled her palm.

Tentatively, Anke reached out with her other hand and gave the velvety nose a touch. The pony let out a snort, and apparently bored with her now that the apple was gone began to gaze and wandered off. She watched it go, she had heard about people who raised and rode horses as their lifestyle, but she had always thought of the people and horses like one creature. Yet, with touching that pony she realized it was a creature of its own, with its own wants and desires, and it did not care what she wanted.

"I see you managed to get up and about, I figured you'd sleep til winter," the man spoke snapping Anke's attention back to him. She started to draw her knees up to her chest, only for her leg to cramp up. Which all things considering was a good thing considering she was only wearing the large shirt. Tears welled up her eyes as she began to massage the muscle out. Meanwhile, the man just stood there and watched her. She was glad for this, she would have felt embarrassed if he had tried to help her, or insulted if he had offered words of wisdom.

"Ah," Anke said when the cramp had relaxed, "Sorry to impose on you, I appreciate your help, I'll be on my way soon enough," this was of course not true, but more of hollow words, to be polite more than anything. Both of them knew that she was far from the point of being able to travel on her own. But common sense dictated that she at least try and put on a show that she would try and not impose on the master of the hall more than necessary.

"Don't be foolish, you're entire leg was about eaten with infection, you were close to dying," the man said gruffly. Anke used the walking stick to get to her feet. The man began to walk, which she could only assume that he wanted her to follow him considering he started talking again. "Until you are able to travel you will have to carry your share of work, I will show you once what to do, than I expect you to do these tasks every day."

Anke didn't exactly like the ton that this man was taking with her. Yes, she knew that she was a burden that she would be eating his food, and staying in his home. But what sort of tasks was he talking about? She had no experience with any of these creatures nor did she have any great skill at cleaning or cooking. She knew she should be grateful, but she couldn't help but feel a little angry at the implied notion that she would be doing work; he didn't even ask her nicely. But, she didn't have a choice, she didn't know where she was at, she could travel far, and she was in debt to this man. She did not like being in debt, but she wasn't exactly fond of getting her hands dirty.

The man stopped suddenly, Anke practically tripped over herself to keep from running into his back. "Finally, there will be times I will leave at night and I will be gone for many days at a time. You will have your work done before night fall and you will stay in the house and lock the door. No matter what you hear you must stay indoors," he said as he turned to give her a stern look. She swallowed hard and nodded before he began walking and she followed after him.

"From the look of you, blond hair and pale eyes, and that accent you're from one of the northern Woodman tribes," the man mentioned as he showed her around the rest of the yard, "You are a far away from home." She could hear the suspicion in his voice and once again she got an odd chill down her spine.

"Aye, I-uh-I was sent to scout the Mirkwood. We'd had been having attacks from giant spiders that had become more frequent in the last few months," Anke managed to sputter. The man was silent again as they headed into the backyard. She took a step back as at least seven large wolfhounds, including the one she had met earlier, charged forward and set to work sniffing her from head to toe.

"At night, you will take the cattle, ponies, and hounds indoors," the man continued scratching one of the hounds behind the ears. "You are not very good at scouting, are you?"

Anke stopped in her tracks, her cheeks turning bright red with embarrassment. She puffed out her cheeks a little trying to regain some composure at such a question. Several retorts went through her brain, each one was ruder than the last, and she bit down on her tongue to keep from snapping at the man. Of course she wasn't a very good scout, she was an Oak, she should have been home studying the petals on a flower. She should have been home in her mother's house where she was not expected to do farm work because of her status of the daughter of a Wuitan. Her home and tribe where she was a disappointment, and when she had shown no skill at being a Wuitan she was left to her own devices on what to do with her life.

She scowled and grounded her teeth together, "No, I am not, but I volunteered and I am very good at keeping a steady pace," she said tensely.

"Not many stand up to bears though," the man was silent again as he showed her several fruit trees, berry bushes, and a vegetable garden. "Do you have a name Woodman?"

"Anke of the Oak," she sulked a little. "Do you have a name?"

"Beorn, just that," he said and was silent again. Anke chewed on her bottom lip, temporarily she forgot to feel sorry for herself. Instead, she was starting to be curious about this giant man. He...did not look like any type of man she had seen before. How did he come to settle at this place, why was he so strict on her staying indoors, why was he so tall? She was used to having her way and having people answer her questions, but Beorn seemed to just talk when he felt like it, she wasn't even sure how welcoming he would be with her asking questions.

They continued to walk around the farm yard, mostly in silence, unless Beorn felt the need to explain something about the animals to her. She did not mind this so much, she found the animals interesting and tried her best to remember the names he told her. He then took her to inspect the bee hives, she had held her breath as he opened one and allowed her to look in and watch the large, gentle bees work. They were nothing like the smaller, wild bees that she had been chased away from their hives built into hollow trees.

"That is enough for today, your face is very pale, you are still weak," Beorn spoke after sometime. Anke would have protested but her leg was beginning to ache and her side was feeling sore. She was also getting very tired. Beorn nodded his head towards the great hall and Anke sleepily made her way back inside. Once there she found that her makeshift bed of a sheet and a pile of hay had been replaced with a straw filled mattress, a proper blanket, and sheet, and a pillow. She crawled into the little bed and closed her eyes. She was exhausted; her whole body had an odd floating feeling as she began to drift asleep. She did think one last thought before she drifted away, _'I need to ask Beorn for some pants and boots.' _


End file.
